


Something About Her

by storieswelove



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: F/F, Ina tells Sophos that Berrone is the most beautiful woman that they know but is also too kind, and that sounds a whole lot like another panicked gremlin, look what I'm saying is, staring up in a panic because the woman he's talking to is too hot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29505957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storieswelove/pseuds/storieswelove
Summary: “Berrone,” Ina said, making a sudden decision, cutting off a story about a horse that Berrone had rescued from a neighbor who had been working the old mare too hard (Ina was surprised to find that she had retained more than she thought). “Would you like to go for a walk?”Berrone’s eyes brightened. “Oh! Yes, that would be lovely.”*Ina and Berrone ditch a ball and take a walk on the roof on a moonlit night.
Relationships: Ina/Berrone
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Something About Her

**Author's Note:**

  * For [berrone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/berrone/gifts).



> Happy birthday, friend. This is not quite the overt Berrone content of your dreams, but I hope it brings you joy all the same. (Today, and only today, will I concede Ber-own).
> 
> Title from “Honeysuckle” by Addison Grace.

It was late in the evening of the annual springtime ball that Ina and her friends stood in a circle near the edge of the dance floor, well poised for the inevitable invitations to dance from men, but near enough that they might escape an unsavory partner with a polite excuse and rejoin the throng of friends. The four ladies had been chatting happily undisturbed for several minutes when Ina’s friend Delphina waved to someone out of Ina’s line of sight. Ina turned and her stomach curled. 

There was Berrone, walking toward them, looking ethereal in a dress of pale, shimmery gold, the color a nearly perfect match for her hair. Ina felt her face harden. 

“Oh, be nice,” her friend Maura, standing on her right, whispered. 

Ina bristled. “I am always nice.” Maura snorted and Ina bit back a smile just as Berrone slid in between Delphina and Aurea to join the tiny circle. 

“Hello, Berrone,” Ina said stiffly as the other woman made her way through the greetings. 

Berrone smiled. “Hi, Ina,” she said. The silence stretched for a moment as Ina felt the tension in her shoulders mount, unable to take her eyes off of Berrone’s smiling face, and then she very gradually relaxed as her friend Aurea engaged Berrone in a conversation about Berrone’s earrings, which were a nearly perfect match to the ones Aurea wore. 

Ina had spent the evening avoiding Berrone. They had seen one another a handful of times since her brother had become king last fall (and killed Berrone’s father to do so, which was awkward), and Berrone had grown more beautiful each time they’d met. Ina, for her part, had slowly begun to realize perhaps her harsh judgement of Berrone had been veiling...other emotions. Which was inconvenient, not the least of which because Ina now found it nearly impossible to speak around her. 

Unable to dig through the noise in her head to find something to contribute to the conversation, Ina stood uncomfortably as talk turned toward the latest earring fashions.

Ina had looked down her nose at Berrone for years (not that the other girl had noticed, which had somehow annoyed Ina even more). She had thought Berrone vapid and stupid, for her interest in dresses and naive kindness toward animals and people alike. But Berrone’s naive kindness had saved Sophos’s life three times, and the life of her father as well, and Ina had had to concede that perhaps profound kindness was an asset. 

Ina had also come to realize that Berrone  _ always _ got what she wanted, which was impressive, to say the least. Ina was very good at getting what she wanted too, but she was fairly certain her own skill was more calculated. And where once Ina had believed Berrone subsisted on just luck and a pretty face, she had also come to recognize that there was some calculation to Berrone’s actions — Berrone seemed to know who was most likely to give her the things she wanted, and she used that skill well. 

Ina preferred it when she hadn’t seen the nuance. She’d preferred it when her stomach hadn’t curled nor her mouth gone dry around Berrone, too. 

The conversation carried on without her, but one by one her friends were asked to dance — Aurea with a neighboring baron’s heir, so she would have to dance several dances with him for formality; Delphina with the Baron Statadorus’s youngest son, with whom she’d been making eyes all night and who, Ina suspected, would be proposing marriage soon; and finally Maura, whose cousin Theo was dancing with her to avoid dating with the daughter of Baron Salik (Theo preferred Salik’s middle son). 

“You know, I like the dancing,” Berrone said, looking out over the floor where the couples twirled together, “but it does get quite loud in here.” 

Ina agreed, but her nerves got the better of her. Feeling foolish, she asked, “How are your horses?” 

Both of them still watching the dancers, Berrone chatted animatedly about a foal that had just been born. Ina’s gaze drifted across the room and landed on her brother and his wife, standing near their thrones in conversation with one another. One of Eddis’s attendants approached her, and Sophos looked up, catching Ina’s eye.

She saw his gaze shift from her to Berrone beside her, and then back to look at her. He raised his eyebrows at her and smirked. Ina glared back and subtly made a rude gesture with her hand, but he only smiled wider and motioned at her with a sweeping hand gesture as if to tell her to go back to her nonexistent conversation, and then turned back to his wife. Helen had corrupted him, Ina thought. Sophos was not clever enough to have pieced together whatever he believed about Ina on his own. Sometimes Ina wondered what Helen could possibly see in her useless brother. 

Ina turned to look at Berrone, who was still talking animatedly. Ina tried to listen, but it was difficult when Berrone’s mouth was right there, nearly at eye level. More people should have lips shaped like that. 

“Berrone,” Ina said, making a sudden decision, cutting off a story about a horse that Berrone had rescued from a neighbor who had been working the old mare too hard (Ina was surprised to find that she had retained more than she thought). “Would you like to go for a walk?” 

Berrone’s eyes brightened. “Oh! Yes, that would be lovely.” 

Ina was pleased, overly so, and mentally chastised herself for it. Ina offered her arm to Berrone and they walked out of the hall together, mostly unnoticed thanks to Ina’s years of mischief, sneaking around villas and megarons.

*

“Oh, this is beautiful,” Berrone said as they ascended the last flight of stairs into the open air. Ina had brought her to the roof walks of the royal apartments, reserved for the royal family and their guests. It was further from the ballroom than the main roof walks, but Ina hadn’t been interested in running into anyone she might have to talk to. Up here there were guards, but they knew Ina and merely nodded, their posts far enough away to give the ladies privacy. The rampart walls were low and crenelated, looking out over the endless expanse of sea. 

Walking over to the northern wall, Berrone said, “I know you can’t see my home from here, but I always try to look just in case.” 

Ina felt a fondness that she tried to tamp down, instead looking out across the city of Sounis and into the darkness of the hills that ran along the coast. Standing so near each other outside of the warm, crowded hall, Ina noticed that Berrone smelled lovely, like orange blossoms and honeysuckle. She dared to inch herself closer, and breathed in slowly. 

“Are you smelling my hair?” Berrone asked, but she did not sound accusatory, merely curious. 

Ina flushed. “I—yes. You um, smell lovely.” 

“Thank you,” she said, and turned her head to look out over the crenellations. “I love the sea. This is much nicer than the roof walks on the other side of the palace. The mountains aren’t nearly as pretty.” And then, Berrone unexpectedly took Ina by the hand and led her to a stone bench along the rampart wall, releasing her only to adjust her skirts when she sat. Ina, who could never quite follow Berrone’s train of thought, was still feeling off-kilter as she sat too, mirroring the other woman as she arranged her skirts. 

They sat in silence, smiling at each other. The moon was full, and the light made Berrone’s skin look silvery and soft. Ina wondered if it would be soft to the touch too. 

Ina was impulsive. Her parents and nurses and tutors had always told her it would catch up to her one day. She just hadn’t expected like this. 

Ina leaned forward and kissed Berrone. It was a tremendously stupid thing to do but…Berrone, miraculously, was kissing her back. 

When they broke apart, Berrone said, smiling, “I hoped you would do that.” 

“Oh,” said Ina, feeling dazed. She hadn’t expected  _ that _ . She blinked. 

“You can kiss me again, if you’d like.” 

That certainly sounded nicer than trying to cobble together a coherent thought so Ina leaned forward and did as she said. When Berrone rested her hand lighting on top of Ina’s, Ina hesitantly reached her hand up to Berrone’s cheek. She felt Berrone smile against her mouth. Berrone pulled back just enough to giggle softly, making Ina’s stomach flip, and said, “You have soft hands.” And then she kissed Ina again. 

Ina had wanted this for a long time. Far too long. Ina couldn’t remember a time that she hadn’t thought too hard about how beautiful Berrone was. So it was only natural (only horrifying) that when they next pulled back, Ina looked her friend in the eye and blurted out, “You’re very beautiful.” 

“You are too,” Berrone said, voice dreamy, reaching up to touch a strand of Ina’s hair that had fallen from her braids. “You have lovely hair.” 

Ina flushed, feeling once again far too pleased. But it was late, and they might send nurses (or gods forbid, her mother) to come look for them soon, and Ina had no desire to explain away the unexplainable if they were caught in a compromising position. And so, she said, “It is getting late. We should return to the ball. I am sorry,” she said, meaning it. 

Berrone stood and took Ina’s arm as she stood too. “That’s all right. I am sleeping at the palace tonight. I will not leave until tomorrow afternoon. Will you join me in the gardens after breakfast? I would like to kiss you again if I can.” 

“I—yes, of course,” Ina said, flustered, but very much looking forward to it. But she grew nervous as they reached the stairs. Halting, she said, “Berrone, you can’t tell anyone about this.” The last thing Ina needed was gossip spreading. 

“Oh, I know,” Berrone said. “I never tell anyone my kissing stories. It’s much too fun to keep them secrets.” 

Blinking hard with surprise (but not displeasure), Ina descended the stairs arm in arm with Berrone. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come scream about QT with me on tumblr @ [storieswelove](storieswelove.tumblr.com) or [the Queen's Thief discord](https://discord.gg/JYJufae).


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